


Between Light and Dark

by galacticheroines



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Gryffindor!Rey, M/M, Slow Burn, Slytherin!BenSolo, Well not that slow, there will be fluff!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23329081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galacticheroines/pseuds/galacticheroines
Summary: There's a new student at Hogwarts, a transfer into Rey's fifth year, whose arrival mysteriously coincides with a persistent ache in her head.
Relationships: Finn/Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 16
Kudos: 39





	1. September 1st

**Author's Note:**

> This is the HP AU I've been craving for so long. There are so many great ones here, so I just had to add to the bunch and make my own. 
> 
> Ratings / tags may change along the way, so make sure to keep up with that. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! All comments are greatly appreciated!

Rey knew something was up from the moment she stepped onto Platform 9 3/4 , but she couldn’t quite place what it was. A second ago, it was only her and the cart she was pushing through the wall, but now—there was something else, like another presence in her mind. She felt like she was being watched. She looked around, but everyone else was too engulfed in the families they were hugging and kissing goodbye and the suitcases they were lugging onto the train. She didn’t have one of those. That is—she didn’t have a family. She had plenty of suitcases. She decided that for the time being, she would focus on getting on the train and finding her friends, and worry about whatever was going on inside her head later. Maybe five years ago, before she had gotten her Hogwarts letter, before she even knew that magic was existed, back when the four walls of her orphanage were the most exciting place she had ever been, she would have dismissed this as nothing. 

But having lived in the magical world for five years, she knew, at least, that there was so much she didn’t know. This could be nothing, sure, but it could also be, like, the next great dark lord peaking around in your brain. She’d ask her friends about it later, then maybe snoop around the library a bit. She relegated whatever it was to a corner of her brain, putting a metaphorical cage around it and promising to return later. 

Rey began hauling her suitcases onto the train. She stepped up into the aisle, peaking into each of the compartments, looking for any of her friends. She didn’t find them there, but she practically walked right into Finn. “REY!” He yelled, something like excitement or fear in his eyes. “I need to talk to you.”

“Finn, I’ve missed you.” She said with a smile. The two tried to hug, finding it a somewhat awkward arrangement with all that was in Rey’s hands. Finn took one of her suitcases and ushered her down the aisle. 

“So, what do you need to talk to me about?” 

Finn looked around at all the other students walking in and out of their compartments, and thought better of it. “Er, maybe later. Hey, did you see Rose yet?”

“Not yet, no. I imagine her and Paige are still out there with their families. Have you?”

Finn shook his head, that wild look in his eyes again. “No, I’m avoiding her.” He said in a rush. “And you haven’t seen Poe yet, have you?”

It was slowly coming together for Rey. “Um, no. You’re the first one I’ve seen. Is this what you needed to talk to me about? Did something happen?”

“No, no,” Finn said, his voice low. He opened the door to a compartment, already stacked with Finn’s own luggage and a frog waiting for them on one of the seats. “Nothing happened, exactly. It’s just, well, that’s why I needed to talk to you.”  
Rey deposited her own luggage up above, beside Finn’s. She wondered if their friends would be joining them, and if so, if their luggage would fit. “So spit it out.” She said, trying not to sound too harsh. 

“Well—”

There was a gentle tap at the compartment door, and Rose waved from behind it. Rey opened the door for her. The two of them hugged briefly, before pulling back. “Hey Rey!” Rose said, “I hope you had a great summer. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to respond to your last letter, things got so busy and I just…”

Rey waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. I had way too much time on my hands, anyway.”

Rose smiled, before looking anxiously between Rey and Finn. “So, um, would you mind if I sat with you guys? I think Paige went off to find her friends…” 

Well, that was weird. Rey thought that Rose, being Finn’s girlfriend and Rey’s friend, wouldn’t hesitate to sit with them on the train ride in. That’s what they had done the past two summers, anyway. Unless that was what Finn had wanted to talk to her about. She was suddenly very much dreading the ride.

“Yes, of course, Rose.” She said, not missing a beat. Rose went to sit beside Finn. 

“Hey, Finn.” She said, softly. She picked up the frog beside her, “Hey BB-8,” and gave him a little kiss on his back. “But that means…where’s—”

Right on cue, Poe came barreling down the aisle. He paused to look into the compartment and his expression shifted. He looked somewhat sour. He walked past the group. 

And turned right back around in a huff. He opened the compartment door. “There you are, BB-8,” he said with a sigh, taking him from Rose’s hands. “I’ve been looking all over for you, buddy.”

The train sounded, and suddenly they were moving. In a few hours, Rey would be back home. Surrounded by people she loved and people who loved her, in a place where she felt like she belonged. She loved magic. She craved to know more. But first she had to endure the train ride. There was silence in the compartment, as everyone pretended to be interested in various passing scenery. 

Rose spoke up first. “Hey, I’ll…uh…go track down the trolley lady. Anyone want anything?” There were a few mumbled replies, and Rose was off, seeming glad to be out of there.

As soon as the compartment door had been slammed shut behind her, Rey turned on Finn accusingly. “What is going on?!” She hissed. 

Finn didn’t look her in the eyes. “I, uh, I don’t know?”

“What do you mean ‘I don’t know’? How do you not know? Did you two break up?”

Poe’s eyes darted up to Rey, but Finn was still avoiding the question. Now he was fidgeting with his fingers, staring out the window, and looking very much like he was willing himself to disaparate. “Not really?”

“So what happened? I didn’t know I was coming back to this. No one told me. You guys barely wrote all summer!” She didn’t mean for it to spill out of her, but it was true. They had exchanged a few letters, sure, but not enough for Rey, who had been desperate for communication from the magical world. 

They both looked sheepish at the accusation, starting with the apologies before she waved them off again. “Forget it, I just mean that I missed you. Really, I did. I wasn’t expecting this.”

Finn sighed, finally turning back from the window. “I didn’t respond to her letters.”

“You WHAT?” Rey practically screamed. Poe tried to cover his mouth with his hand to contain his laughter but was horribly unsuccessful. It burst out of him. Just at that moment, the door slid open again. Rose had returned with the snacks. She threw them at their respective owners and took her seat. 

Wrappers were unwrapped, and silence once again befell the compartment. It was Rey’s turn to break it: “Bloody hell, I can’t wait to play quidditch again. Haven’t been on a broomstick all summer.”

The awkwardness was broken immediately. Finally, an even playing field. “Is that really something you want to be saying in front of your captain, Rey?” Poe asked, his head cocked jokingly. 

Rey kicked him, “You’ll still let me on the team, won’t you?”

They all laughed. “Hey,” Rose chimed in, “no playing favourites! I hear Connix’s gonna try out for Seeker.”

Finn turned to the conversation, “Connix? No way. I’ve always pegged her for a Keeper, if anything.”

And the conversation continued until it was time to change into their robes and finally, finally go home.

*

They were sitting once again at the Gryffindor table, all anxiously awaiting the feast. Poe and Finn were talking excitedly about some Muggle show that Rey had heard of but never seen, and Rose was in conversation with her sister. The doors to the Great Hall suddenly flew open, and in walked Professor Holdo, accompanied by a line of first years. Well, they were mostly first years. There was one individual, further down the line, who stood out from all the rest with only his height. Rey couldn’t see him very well over all the heads in her way, but the conversation in the Hall certainly just got louder. 

The sorting begun. Rey tuned out, playing around with her cutlery and looking around the Hall at all her classmates. She felt herself starting to miss them, even though they were all right in front of her. But she was already in fifth year. Three more years and she’d have to leave this place. The only place she’d ever really considered home. She forced herself to stop thinking about it, noting that it was still years away and there was no use in worrying. She looked around at all her friends and took a deep breath, feeling grateful that they were all still there with her. 

Her attention was brought back to Professor Holdo’s roll call only when the latter paused. “Our last student just transferred to Hogwarts from Ilvermorny under extenuating circumstances.” She hazarded a look at Headmaster Organa. “I hope you will join me in welcoming him.” She paused again. “Ben Solo,” she called.

The Great Hall erupted. “Not Ben Solo? THE Ben Solo? Are we talking about the same Ben Solo?” It came out of Finn in a rush. He was looking between the four of them for answers, but they were all staring, open-mouthed. 

“A Skywalker.” Rose breathed. “A Skywalker at Hogwarts!”

Everyone in the Great Hall was familiar with the rise and fall of Darth Vader, the Jedi gone dark and his son, the Skywalker Legend, who turned him back to the light. His sister, after all, was standing before them. Distantly, Rey registered that everyone had burst into similar discussions. She heard bits of their conversations: “Is that the Headmaster’s son?” and “Wait ‘til I tell my mum about this!” and “D’you think he’s as strong with the force as Luke?”

Rey was nodding. Or, she thought she was nodding. She was too transfixed on Ben Solo’s dark hair and long legs and those eyes that she could somehow see from across the room. She felt like she had been drugged with a love potion. It wasn’t often that a student transferred from another wizarding school. Actually, Rey had never heard anything of the sort happening. She guessed they made certain exceptions for the son of two war heroes, one of which was the Headmaster.

Ben, the tallest of all those who had been sorted today, moved out from the group. He didn’t look around or acknowledge all the noise around him. He took his seat by the Sorting Hat and—

Nothing happened. Nothing happened for a long time. A hush came over the Great Hall. After a few moments, the Sorting Hat finally spoke, “Hmmm.. curious one we have here. A Thunderbird at Ilvermorny but not so easily sorted at Hogwarts…” and there was silence again. “Gryffindor? You’ve a heart of gold, that’s for sure. And passion, too, my is there passion in you.” Rey felt her cheeks turning red. “But your head.” Another pause. Rey could barely take the anticipation. She looked around the Hall to find her other classmates similarly raptured. “Your head yearns for Slytherin. Either way, there’s so much ambition in you, Young Solo.” Ben grimaced at the name. “But you don’t like that name, do you? Hm…”

Under her breath, Rose said, “A hatstall.” So simply and so entranced by what was happening before them. 

The hat seemed finally to be bored of the situation, after what Rey would guess was nearly seven minutes. “Better be… Slytherin!” It called, and the Slytherin table sounded off in cheers that caused Rey to bring her hands to her ears. 

Ben didn’t seem amused. He left the stool and walked down beside the tables, looking around. Rey felt her head getting dizzy as his eyes locked on hers. 

At first, the pain was so poignant that Rey clutched her head and couldn’t help but let a gasp of pain escape her lips. Finn grasped her arm, looking concerned. “Rey? Are you okay?” She tried to give him a thumbs-up, but he continued to look at her long after the pain had passed. 

Ben Solo was slowly walking toward the Gryffindor table, his eyes locked on Rey and a look of utter bewilderment on his face. Someone from Slytherin spoke up: “Hey, Solo, Slytherin’s over here!” Ben didn’t look embarrassed, exactly. Just annoyed. He turned around with one last glance at Rey and found his seat at the edge of the table. 

Rey tried to offset the strangeness of the situation. “Americans.” She huffed, her eyes finally moving from Ben. 

Headmaster Organa cleared her throat. "I know you’re all eager for the feast after your long journey.” She took out her glasses from her pocked, adjusting them onto her face. “Just one announcement, and an exciting one. Our professors, “ She gestured at the main table, full of professors of all sizes, some ghosts (Professor Yoda was the notorious saviour of the Defence Against the Dark Arts position), and some barely extending tall enough over the table (Professor Maz seemed particularly annoyed with her accommodations). “have worked tirelessly all summer to bring what I’m told is a variation of a Muggle pastime t Hogwarts. This Saturday will be our first game of Capture the Flag in the Forbidden Forest, which has been cleared of all threats for this purpose.” Headmaster Organa spoke over the noise. “This game will be restricted to fifth years and up, and teams will be determined based on houses. The winning house will receive…” Her eyes glittered, clearly enjoying the spectacle. “A prize.”

The excitement was perhaps moreso than if she had said the prize outright. Murmurs broke out among each table, everyone theorizing about what it may be. Headmaster Organa needed only to raise a hand, and the room silenced. “There will be more rules to follow. All those interested in participating will meet in front of the Forbidden Forest after breakfast on Saturday. Let the feast begin,” she said with a smile.


	2. Into the Forbidden Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey meets Ben in the Forest during the first round of Capture the Flag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone!! As always, I love to read your comments and thoughts on the story!

Life at Hogwarts quickly settled back into the same old rhythms that Rey knew and loved. When Professor Holdo came up to Rey at breakfast the next morning, Rey was ready with all the classes she wanted to take. Finn, however, seemed less certain, going back and forth on his classes until Rey feared that Professor Holdo would snap at him. A few moments later, the four of them were on their way to the one class they all shared: Ancient Runes. 

Besides the horrible moment of picking a seat, the furtive glances between Rose and Poe as each barrelled to sit beside Finn and the snide look of victory on Poe’s face when he won, Rey thought things were going pretty well. She would have to talk to Finn about this afterward, she thought as she took her seat beside Rose. “I don’t know how I’m going to survive another semester of Ancient Runes”, Rose muttered, taking out her textbook in defeat. 

“Why’d you take it, then?” Rey wondered aloud, unable to keep herself from looking at the entrance. 

“I don’t know, I just…” Rose caught on. “Hey, what’s going on with you? Waiting for someone?”

Rey bit her lip. She didn’t want to admit it, but well, she was curious about that new Slytherin boy. Judging by the lack of pain in her head, though, she figured that he probably wasn’t coming. She turned around resolutely in her chair, facing the front with purpose. “No, no. Don’t worry, I’ll help you out.” She nudged Rose’s arm, “We’ll get through this together.”

But Rey found herself doing the same in Charms later in the afternoon. She tried to cast it out of her mind, focusing instead on making her feather dance. It was supposed to be waltzing with another feather, but Rey’s looked more like it was shuffling. Professor Windu came up to Rey’s desk, “A little rusty, are we, Rey?” He chuckled, “Not to worry. Keep at it.”

*

Saturday came two days later, and with it, the first round of Capture the Flag. All the muggle-borns and half-bloods were buzzing with excitement, chattering about the day’s events over their morning breakfast. Rey had never played the game herself, but she knew all about it and well, she couldn’t help but feel the rush herself. “Are you guys participating?” She asked her table eagerly. 

Rose looked around. “Um, I don’t know. I’m not very good at duels. I think I’ll stick to the Quidditch pitch, get some practice in before tryouts tomorrow.”

Finn nodded. “Maybe I’ll join you.”  
Poe looked annoyed, “Oh, really, guys? Come on! The whole school’s gonna be involved! Where’s your house spirit?”

They both shrugged, seeming more focused on the platters of food in front of them than on any conversation. Poe turned to Rey. “I’m in. Let’s walk out to the Forbidden Forest.” 

The two finished their breakfasts and walked out of the Great Hall in the rush of students all planning the same thing. In the frenzy, she lost Poe, but quickly spotted him again by the Hogwarts doors, waiting for her to catch up. 

“That was unlike Finn.” He muttered. 

Rey started. So here it was. “What you do mean?” She tried to sound not as interested as she was as they walked along toward the forest. 

“I just mean…not to participate like that. Since when doesn’t he have Gryffindor pride?”

Rey shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s that. I just think he’s maybe he’s worried about tryouts tomorrow.”

Poe looked around, avoiding Rey’s gaze. “He has nothing to worry about.” He mumbled. 

Rey swatted his arm. “Poe! Seriously, no playing favourites.”

He looked aghast. “Did I say I was playing favourites? I didn’t say anything!” and, laughing, the two huddled together with half the school that had come out in front of the Forbidden Forest to play. 

Headmaster Organa was waiting by the entrance to the Forest. She was conferring with Professor Holdo, however, looking around at the crowd that had gathered, she cleared her throat and began: “Good morning, students. I know you’re all eager to begin today’s…er, festivities. Throughout the school term, we’ll have four rounds of Capture the Flag. Your teams are based on your houses, and the house that wins gets a point. The house with the most points at the end of the school year wins. Simple enough, hm?” She looked around. All the students were silent, listening intently. “However, we’ve made a few adjustments. If you happen to come across another student in the Forest, as I’m sure you will, you’ll find that casting the ‘Capturo’ charm ensures they are out of the game. That same student will not be permitted to participate in the coming games, either. And trust me,” her eyes glittered dangerously, a look that only Headmaster Organa could pull off, “you’ll want to stick around. Any questions?”

One student spoke up, stuttering through their question: “What happens if…if we get lost or we need help?”

“Cast a simple red sparks charm with your wand, and a professor will be with you in a moment. We’ve cleared the Forest of any real threat, so it’ll just be the students around you to worry about.” 

Everyone looked at each other. In a few moments, they were congregated in their respective houses. Poe spoke up out of the Gryffindors. “Okay, listen up. We need defense, we need people to run after the flag, and we need offense to get rid of their men.”

“Er, Poe..” It was Paige who spoke up. “Which flag are we going for?” 

“Isn’t it obvious?” He had a smirk on his face, one that Rey didn’t trust. “Slytherin, of course.”

*

One moment Rey was running past the silvery-white oak tree on her way back to the Gryffindor base, the Slytherin flag gripped between her hands, and the next she was on her knees in the dirt, clutching her head in pain. Whatever had happened that first day at Hogwarts, it was happening again. The pain grew and grew until she thought she would scream out, and then, suddenly, it stopped altogether. It was replaced with an ease that washed over her. Something felt…right. It was as if whatever was inside her head had been placated, given what it wanted at long last. 

“It’s you.”

Rey spun around at the sudden noise, scrambling to her feet. It was Ben, standing in a long black cloak behind her. His wand wasn’t raised, which Rey thought was kind of counterintuitive to the point of the game. She brandished hers. 

“What are you talking about?” She was running through the list of accepted spells, trying to decide which to use. 

He was moving ever closer, making his way around the tree. She raised her wand higher. He pressed, “I feel it too.”

Oh. That infuriating something in her head, that little space that had been carved out. Someone had moved in, and he was standing in front of her. 

“What’s your name?” He asked. He didn’t seem at all concerned with the wand she was pointing in his face. 

She considered not responding and instead just casting the spell on him and carrying on with the game. But she was curious to know more about their connection. She yielded. “Rey.”

“Rey what?” His voice was still low and somehow intense, though they were ostensibly alone. 

“Rey Nobody.” Her mouth quirked. He raised his eyebrows. “I’m serious! It started as a joke but it kind of…stuck.”

“Okay, Rey Nobody. I’m—”

“Ben Solo.” She finished. “Everyone knows who you are.”

“So you have me at a disadvantage.” He eyed the wand in her hands, seeming to see it for the first time. “In more ways than one.” He kicked at the flag on the floor but didn’t reach to grab it. 

“It’s over.” She said, that same smile spreading across her face again. “Capturo,” she called, along with the accompanying hand gesture. 

She hadn’t seen it happen, but somehow Ben had deflected her spell. She wondered if he had been holding his wand at the ready the whole time, underneath his cloak, and she had been too distracted by the steadiness of his voice to really pay attention. She scolded herself, and backed up, bracing herself for a duel. 

“Stupefy,” He called lazily, pointing his wand in her direction. With a quick jolt to the side, Rey deflected the curse. 

She then turned her wand on herself, muttering under her breath. She disappeared into the air. Her favourite, and her most accomplished, spell had always been one of invisibility. They were usually finnicky things, not as reliable as an invisibility cloak, but Rey had always had a particular knack for them. As a child, her magical abilities first manifested as her turning invisible at the orphanage. If she had had a regular family, she imaged they would have spent countless hours tearing their house upside-down looking for her. As it had been, her absence was barely recognized.

Ben let out a soft gasp. Now, finally, the smile fully spread across her face. She decided she liked to get the one-up on Ben Solo, to watch him in awe. “I’ll admit,” he said, and he seemed to be enjoying himself too, “that’s quite impressive. I could never get the hand of that particular spell for myself.”

She sent a body-bind curse at him, coming just to the right of where she had disappeared. He easily deflected. He moved toward the spot she had been. 

Rey was moving slowly, careful not to crunch on a leaf or trip over anything. Any sudden movement and the spell might break. She didn’t know if she’d be able to face him down without its shield. She walked slowly past him. Under the cover of the spell, she allowed herself an extra long look at his features, the way his jaw was set in concentration, and the untrusting look in his eyes. She was closer to him than was strictly necessary. Half of her reasoned that the closer she was to him, the less time he had to deflect her spell. The other half wondered why she didn’t leave and call for backup. She felt frozen. Maybe he had put a spell on her too, after all. 

His stance softened. “You haven’t left.” He noted, “I still feel you here.” He took a step forward and reached out a hand, his fingers hovering dangerously close to her left ear. 

She held her breath and moved closer around his right side. She parted her lips and raised her wand. “Petrificus Totalus” She breathed right by his ear. Then: “I’m right here, Ben.” If she had been thinking straight, she would have further locked him with the Capturo charm. As it was, she wasn’t thinking straight. That seemed to be a side-effect of being near Ben Solo.

She didn’t stick around. Picking the Slytherin flag up from where she had dropped it, she ran back to the Gryffindor base to the welcome of thunderous applause from her teammates.


	3. A Secret Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey gets an invitation from Ben, who promises her answers to the mental connection they share.

Rey was waiting on the bleachers for Quidditch tryouts to finish. She had had her turn flying around the pitch, taking shots on the net. She wasn’t giving it her full effort, and she felt that; her mind instead wavering yet again to the dark-haired boy she met in the forest last night. She wanted to see him again, to know if he really felt as she did, but she didn’t know how. And then—

Suddenly Connix was beside her, throwing the Quaffle to her as they both approached the net. Rose was on net. She had made the team last year, that was true, but this year… Rey had to admit, the competition was much harder. She didn’t blame her when she let Rey’s Quaffle in, but as Rey watched from the stands in later tryouts, she grit her teeth as Rose let Quaffle after Quaffle past her. It was hard to look.

So hard, in fact, that Rey’s glance wandered off the pitch, and onto Hogwarts’ grounds. Her eyes moved of their own accord; she saw whomping willow shaking off its leaves, the creature in the ocean come up for air, and, in the distance, a group of green-robed boys. She knew who it was, instantly.

“Ben!” She called, trying to wave to catch his attention. He didn’t spare her a glance, instead deep in the conversation he was having with a group of Slytherins. Not just any Slytherins either, Rey noticed, but the worst kind. He was surrounded by Snoke, Hux, and Pride—all notorious Pureblood families who frowned upon anyone the lesser. She wanted to walk over there and stop him, but before she could work up the nerve to do so, she heard a muffled sob coming from the stadium. Her eyes tore back to the tryouts to find Rose running out of the pitch, her broom discarded somewhere on the ground. 

“Rose, wait, hold up!” Finn tried to call after her, but before he could move, Poe was rounding up all those who had made the team to make arrangements for their first practice. Rey was shuffling back and forth on her feet, eager to go after Rose. She was barely listening to Poe as he rambled on about practice dates and their first game being in two weeks. The moment he paused for a breath, Rey was already barrelling down the bleachers, chasing after Rose. 

Rey caught her shoulder just as Rose was stalking back into the Gryffindor common room. On such a beautiful day, the first Saturday of term, it was empty. “Hey.” Rey tried to make her voice soft, sympathetic. 

Rose shook her off. “It’s fine,” she said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “I just thought…” 

Rey nodded. “I know. It was really tough this year.”

Rose was staring at a spot on the carpet. “I thought we were all friends.” Her voice was low and her cheeks were burning. 

“What?!” Rey led her to the couches, and they sat. “Rose, of course we’re your friends. You know Poe, though, had to have the very best on the team.”

Her eyes met Rey’s. “It doesn’t feel that way. I feel like I’m being” she shrugged, “phased out or something.”

Rey stared back intently. “You’re not. Rose, I promise, you’re not. Whatever happens with Quidditch, I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

Rose breathed a sigh. “I don’t really care about Quidditch.” She shrugged again. “I mean, I like playing it, sure, but I’m just as happy to cheer you on from the stands.” 

The two hugged, Rey leaning her head on Rose’s shoulder. “Wanna come down for dinner? Or should I bring you something up?” 

Rose laughed. “The latter. Please.” 

“I got you, Rose.” 

*

Rey was laying in her Gryffindor bed later that night, staring at the designs on the inside of her canopy bed and the way that they glittered in the moonlight that came through the window. She was thinking about Ben. Well, she hadn’t stopped thinking about Ben—not since their meeting in the Forest, or, if she was being honest, since the first day she saw him in the Great Hall. Something had been drawing her toward him at every turn, and she needed to know why.

Her mind wandered as she began to materialize his image. First his dark eyes, boring straight into her with their intensity, and then his long hair. She tried to force herself away from the curve of his jaw and the thin line of his lips, but her mind lingered on the image. 

“Rey?” It was a quiet, questioning voice. She stood up instantly in her bed, looking around wildly. Was he here?

But no, it was just the cold walls of her room and the soft snoring of her roommates. She let herself rest again on the pillow, any drowsiness she had once felt leaving her instantly. “Ben?”

“Were you thinking of me?” She felt her heart rate speed up, but he answered himself before she could. “I was thinking of you.” It was a simple admission, but it sent her blood racing. 

There was silence between them for only a moment. Ben started again. “I was in the library this morning and I found something I think you might be interested in.” She wanted to bite back—was that before or after you were hanging around that Slytherin pureblood trash?—but she withheld it. There was no need to make an enemy of a friend. 

“What’s that?” She had whispered it out loud, and quickly realized her mistake. She tried again, this time willing it to him with her mind. 

Another pause. Then: “Meet me by that silver tree in the Forest.” She felt the metaphorical line go dark. She could reach out to him again, she knew, but she wasn’t sure if he would respond. 

She lingered in her bed. It was only the first week of school, and she wasn’t too keen on breaking the rules already. But there was something enticing about Ben, something that kept him always on her mind. She needed to know more, and this was her chance. 

Careful to be quiet, she swung her legs over the side of her bed. She kept on the Quidditch sweater she had been wearing to bed but swapped out her pants for something slightly more flattering than red and gold-patterned shorts. She moved toward the window, using a non-verbal Alohomora spell to click it open. She grabbed her broom from beside her bed and hoisted herself onto the roof. Half-crouching, she tried to steady herself. She had done this more times than she would care to admit to any of the administration. Again, she used a non-verbal invisibility spell and in just a few moments she was soaring on her broom over Hogwarts. She tried not to dwell on the beautiful moonlight glow cast on the castle, instead focusing her attention on her destination: The Forbidden Forest.

As she approached, Rey noticed immediately what she wasn’t feeling—that intense pain, that pull toward something, it was gone. It was like that something inside her had ben quelled…or, activated. It was awake, and now she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Flying over the Forbidden Forest, she caught a sliver of the oak tree and somewhere beside it, the soft glow of a wand. He must have cast a Lumos charm.

She landed softly somewhere beside him. “I’ll admit, I wasn’t so sure you’d show up.” Ben was leaning against the tree, but his gaze was focused on Rey. 

She moved closer, at first tentatively. “Oh really, why is that?”

Rey noticed that Ben had the habit of saying whatever came to his mind. It was a raw honesty that she admired. “I didn’t think you liked me very much.”

She relented. “It’s not that I don’t like you, Ben, it’s that I don’t like the cronies you hang around with. Let’s just say I don’t agree with their politics.”

His eyes darkened, even in the low light of his wand. “My name’s Kylo Ren now.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, so she said nothing.

“Stop looking like that.” He brushed her off. “I know you’re muggleborn. I’ve always known.” She didn’t have to ask how. 

“What else do you know?” She didn’t mean for it to sound as harsh as it came out. “Why’d you ask me here?”

It came out of him as if he’d been dying to say it since she arrived. “I was in the library this morning, as I said. I was doing some research on,” he motioned between them, “whatever this is. I think I found it.” Rey tried not to look as interested as she was. She was sure that she was failing. “It’s called a dyad in the force. ‘Two that are one’, the book said.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean, exactly?”

“I guess it means we’re connected.” He let the words hang between them. 

Rey was shuffling back and forth on her feet, suddenly feeling unnerved at their meeting location. The question still persisted in her mind: why did Ben Solo ask her to come here? 

He stepped away from the tree, moving closer. She felt her heart rate increase, but she wasn’t sure she liked the feeling. He spoke, “I need to know why. Why you? What’s so special about you?” The words were probably not meant to be as insulting as they sounded, but they strung all the same to Rey. She backed up slowly, but there was nowhere to go that he couldn’t follow. 

In a second, his wand was out. Rey’s eyes widened. “Ben. What are you doing?”

He leaned in closer. “I’m not going to hurt you, Rey. I would never hurt you.” And then—”Legilimens!”

Rey was thrown to the ground. In her mind, images flashed: first it was her in her room at the orphanage when she was only nine, drawing another line on the walls of her room to mark the days she had been there. Then it was just the legs of the tall, thin woman who came to the orphanage to let her know that she would be going to Hogwarts that school year. Then, that same night, her crying into her pillow with relief, with fear, with desire. She felt Ben’s scoff as the image of her and Finn hugging flashed through her mind. The reaction lulled her out, and for the first time, she pushed back. He was thrown from her mind and, not expecting her strength, she had a moment to take out her own wand, casting the same spell on him.

She saw a flicker of Ben outside of an office, peering through the cracked-open door as Han Solo and another, older man were seated inside. She caught just a few words: “He’s not like the other students. He can’t stay here, Han,” before the image changed to him screaming at his father that he didn’t want to leave—not again. He was quicker to push back, though, and soon they were both back to the moonlight of the Forest, panting heavily. 

“So this is why you brought me here? To see inside my mind?” Tears were on her cheeks, but she was up already. She towered over him as he was on the floor, clutching the ground for stability. She took the chance, casting a body-binding jinx on him. 

She turned around, accio’d her broom into her hands, and cast a quick invisibility charm on her person. As she skyrocketed back toward the Gryffindor tower, he was left trapped and alone in the snow.


	4. Shut Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!

Rey couldn’t sleep when she returned to her dorm. She lay awake all night, not so much thinking of Ben as she was trying to avoid thinking of Ben. Or—Kylo? Or whatever he was calling himself now. Despite whatever magical connection was between them, Rey wouldn’t let herself be treated like that. She hadn’t had much experience with boys, but she reasoned that anyone who only wanted to meet at night and tried to steal into her mind was probably raising a few red flags. She promised herself she would stay away. 

When she walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts the next morning, however, she found herself already breaking that promise. Ben was seated in the back corner with a group of Slytherins. They were speaking intently about something, waving their hands and exchanging frustrated glances, but Rey willed herself not to listen in. She walked directly toward Finn, who had saved her a seat. Rose and Poe were seated just behind them, Rose already flipping through her textbook and looking immersed enough not to interrupt. 

Finn greeted her with a grin. “Running a little late this morning.”

Rey stifled a yawn as she threw off her bookbag and got to organizing her desk. “Bad sleep.” She grumbled.

A voice came from the front of the room. Rey hadn’t realized, but Professor Yoda was seated by the desk, only barely visible over the edge. He hopped off his chair, coming to the front of the room with a stack of papers in his hand. Rey had been in enough classes to know that that was never a good sign. She was right. “Ready are we…” Professor Yoda paused, “for the first quiz of the semester?” The entire class groaned. Professor Yoda seemed almost to be enjoying himself as he used his wand to flick a sheet of parchment onto each student’s desk. “Review, it is. Half an hour you will have. Please begin.” 

The class went silent, save for the sound of quills scratching on parchment. Rey breathed, feeling like she was about to seriously regret her summer spent back at the muggle orphanage. She turned over the paper and got to work. Question one was simple enough. She answered the identifiers of a werewolf with ease, and even managed to remember the names of all the registered animagi. Her quill stopped at question three: How would you best ward off a Grindylow? 

She stared at her page. She couldn’t quite remember what a Grindylow was, but she was fairly certain it had wings. She wrote something about using a Fiedfyre curse, thinking that she may be lucky enough to get part marks on that question. She had just moved further down the page, to a question asking, What are the three unforgivable curses, and what are the repercussions if you were to perform one of them? when she felt it again. It was something in her head, as if a door had just sprung open, and now there was another set of eyes staring down at her page. She turned her head back to look at Ben, thinking that he was invading her mind again, but he was staring innocently at his paper. 

The movement sparked Professor Yoda’s attention. “Can I help, Miss Rey?”

Rey turned back, embarrassed. “No, no, it’s nothing, Professor.” 

He continued to look at her until eventually bowing his head. “Twenty more minutes, you all have.” 

A moment passed, during which Rey still felt that persistent something. She tried to breathe, to refocus, but then, a voice. It could only be Ben. “Question three is wrong.” He said it casually. 

Rey grit her teeth. “I don’t need your help.” 

He seemed almost to be laughing now. “Good luck setting fire to an underwater creature.” And just like that, he was gone. Out the same door he had come from. She willed herself not to bite back a response, and silently cursed him as her quill scratched over question three, erasing her answer. She hated that he had free access to her, that her mind seemed like a playground to him. She promised herself that would change. 

It wasn’t until the following week that Rey got the opportunity to sit down in the library with Finn. They had been looking forward to spending some time together, but their workload had already gotten to the point that any time together would be spent over a stack of books. As it was, however, Rey was wandering through the library, looking for information on her force bond with Ben. She wanted to read whatever book it was that he himself had read, to get that information for herself. It wasn’t exactly that she didn’t trust him…well, maybe it was. It would be a long while before she forgot the spell he cast on her in the Forest. 

She roamed the aisles, eventually stopping at the “Magical Maladies” section. She didn’t think it was exactly a malady, her connection with Ben, but she didn’t know what else to call it. After a few minutes running her finger through table of contents, she found nothing. She kept wandering the aisles. She found what she was looking for eventually under “Magical Abilities.” Most of the books she came across included things like ‘parseltongue’ and ‘unaided flying’, but after some digging she found just one, titled: “Parseltongue, Telepathy, and other Unlikely Connections”. She picked up the text thinking that their connection was somewhat akin to Telepathy. Her heart rate sped up when she saw ‘Force Bond’ under Chapter 7. She clutched the book to her chest, quickly walking back to the desk where Finn was waiting. 

He looked up from his work. “What took you so long?”

She shifted in her seat. She hadn’t told Finn what was going on. She didn’t know exactly what it was herself, and so the thought of explaining it to another person seemed impossible. But it was Finn. She figured she owed it to him to try, at least. She spoke before she could talk herself out of it. “Listen, I need to tell you something. There’s something going on between me and Ben.”

Finn’s eyes grew wide. “You’re dating Ben Solo?!” His words were a screech in an otherwise quiet library. 

She shushed him, her cheeks burning. “No, no, that’s not what I mean at all. We just…we have this connection. I can feel him in my mind.”

Finn raised his eyebrows. “Like, you can read each other’s thoughts?”

Rey hadn’t really thought of it like that. “It’s more like…feelings. I know what he’s feeling and I can tap into that.”

Met only with Finn’s confusion, Rey went on to explain the pain in her head when she first saw him, and the night in the Forest. “I think that day in the Great Hall, something was activated. I need to know how to shut it off.”

Finn looked between Rey and the book in her hands. “And you think that that book will tell you what you need?”

Rey bit her lip. “I hope so. I can’t have him looking in my head like that again. Plus, you’ve seen the kind of people he hangs around. They hate…” She searched for the words, “my kind. They hate me. I don’t want him using this connection to his advantage.”

She flipped to Chapter 7 eagerly, running her finger down the page until she saw FORCE BOND bolded, a definition off to the side:

Force Bond, n. : a rare connection between two magical beings, causing both parties to inhabit the other’s mind, to varying extents. Abilities include: telepathy with only each other and manifesting physically in front of the other person while only they can see you. As far as is known, this connection is inseparable. 

See also: Frederick Willingham’s catastrophic attempt to separate himself from his Force Bond partner, pg 277  
See also: Soulmates, pg 110. 

Rey grit her teeth at that last bit, trying not to focus on the implications of those words. She turned the book toward Finn. “Inseparable,” she huffed.

“I guess you’ll have to shut him out the old-fashioned way.”

Rey looked around unhelpfully at the stack of books. “There has to be something,” she mumbled. She flipped to page 277, not seriously believing that she would be able to separate the bond, but curious nonetheless. It was then that she felt it, even before her eyes saw Ben Solo and his group of Slytherins walking into the library. She was far enough that she couldn’t hear what he was saying, but somehow, she knew that he had just said, “Give me time to convince you. I know I can.” She lost focus on what she was doing, instead trying to hear what the group was saying. 

Finn waved his hands in front of her. “Rey! Rey! What’s going on?” 

She shook her head, “Nothing, nothing…I…” She sighed, “He’s coming this way.”

A moment later, Ben had murmured some excuse to his friends and was joining Rey and Finn at their table. He stood over them, turned toward Rey. “Rey.” He said, by way of greeting, perhaps, but it wasn’t necessary. Rey had already been watching him, and Finn was pretending to focus on his work in front of him. “I see you found the book I mentioned.” His head inclined toward the book, still open. Only now it was open specifically to the page on separation. Ben’s eyes furrowed together. It wasn’t anger exactly, but Rey wouldn’t call it hurt, either. Whatever it was, she didn’t like it. 

She felt him again, just at the edges of her mind. It was like he was waiting at the door for her to let her in. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. She broke his gaze. He stood there for only a moment longer. “I understand.” He said. He glanced again at Finn, who was still hunched over his books. “I won’t bother you anymore.”

And then he turned away, and in a moment he was gone, lost in the stacks of books with his Slytherin friends. Rey glanced once at the open page before closing it, deciding that it had gotten her in enough trouble and it was really time to get started on that Charms homework. She felt Finn’s eyes on her. “I guess you got what you wanted.”

He seemed in awe of it, but Rey could only feel the dread at having just effectively closed the door on Ben. She had reasoned with herself that this was what she wanted to do—what she needed to do, but it didn’t help the sunken feeling in her heart that carried her through the rest of her day.


	5. Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks for reading--and thanks especially for all the comments on the last chapter! This time around, Ben is trying to do the right thing.

Ben stayed true to his promise. Weeks passed without Rey feeling that now-familiar knock on the door in her mind. She still noticed him, of course; every time he entered a room, her head invariably turned. But she kept her glances from lingering, and she felt him do the same. The only time she heard his voice these days was when he raised his hand in class. He seemed a quick study, putting even Rey’s knowledge of the force to the test. With her studies and Quidditch practices to keep her busy, and the next Capture the Flag a whole month away, her mind barely wandered to the dark-haired boy who had haunted her dreams at the beginning of term. 

It wasn’t until Gryffindor’s next Quidditch match against Slytherin that her thoughts turned once again toward Ben. She was in the Gryffindor change room before the game, surrounded by her teammates clad in gold and crimson. The room was silent. She noticed herself tapping her foot irritably and stopped. She looked to Poe, expectedly. 

Usually the Gryffindor change room would be full of commotion right before a game. Poe would be shouting strategy, accompanied by a diagram he would summon with a flourish of his wand. Her teammates would be half-listening, half-trying to scrounge together their equipment, doing up zippers and fastening their hair underneath their protective headgear. It was true that this had all happened, but now…now they were just waiting. Rey wasn’t exactly sure what they were waiting for. “Hey, Poe,” She motioned with her hand for him to come closer, away from all the prying ears. But in a room this small, with everyone eager for news, it was quite impossible. “What’s going on?” 

Poe looked crazed. Rey didn’t usually see him this way—panicked. He hissed back, “I don’t know! No one’s seen Professor Holdo! She has all the stuff!” 

From the front of the tent, Connix was peering through the curtains. “Um, guys?” She looked back at the team. “They’re getting pretty loud out there.” Half the school was out there in the stands. 

Rey couldn’t take the waiting any longer. “Right. Okay.” She stood up. “I’ll go to Professor Holdo’s office.”

Poe nodded. In fact, he was nodding quite furiously. Rey thought he slightly unhinged. “Yes. Good. Good plan. Do that.” And he returned to pacing around the tent. Rey straightened, clutching her broomstick to her side, and was off. 

She found Professor Holdo outside her office, her arm raised toward the doorknob. She approached slowly. “Professor Holdo?”

Holdo whipped around, lowering her raised wand. “Ah, Rey! I’m so sorry. It’s rather embarrassing, really, but it appears I’ve been…er…locked out of my office.”  
Rey raised an eyebrow. “Locked out of your office?” She repeated the words, not quite believing them as she said them. “But couldn’t you just…”

Holdo was exasperated. “I tried. I tried every spell I could think of. And, of course, the Quidditch equipment is in there, the balls and such.” She waved around her hand. Her eyes following the casual wave of Professor Holdo’s hand, Rey noticed something. Something so small and imperceptible that if she hadn’t seen the minute twisting of the door handle, she would not at that very moment have realized that her head was buzzing again. A buzz that could only mean that Ben was close by. 

But there was no one else in the hallway—they were all down at the Quidditch pitch for the game. Professor Holdo was still talking to her. “I’ll have to get the headmaster. Maybe we could reschedule the game for another day?”

Rey shifted on her feet, not quite sure whether or not to bring the Professor’s attention to the steadily opening door behind her. Something she couldn’t describe made her continue to redirect Holdo’s attention. “Professor, half the school is out there. Could we get the equipment from somewhere else? Do we have an extra somewhere?” 

Professor Holdo narrowed her eyes at Rey. Too late, Rey realized that she was prioritizing a Quidditch game over a potential intruder. Before she could open her mouth to correct herself, Holdo gave Rey a scathing look. “Miss Rey.” She said, carefully. “I don’t think you fully understand the situation. There is perhaps an intruder in my office as we speak. This is a dark plot, indeed. If not even my magic could penetrate the door...” She let the sentence hang between them. Under Holdo’s stare, Rey felt quite small. 

But from her peripheral vision, Rey saw that recognizable figure emerge from Holdo’s office door. With a silent click! the door closed once again. Ben looked at Rey for a long glance. Too long—he should be running off by now. A sort of understanding passed between them, during which Rey promised herself she would demand an explanation later. An explanation that didn’t involve violating the Professor’s privacy, potentially tampering with something inside, or—Rey cringed at the thought—stealing something. 

Holdo continued, “Would you be so kind as to tell your teammates that the game will be rescheduled? No need for too much detail, you understand.” 

Rey was biting her lip. “Professor, if I could try the door myself?”

Holdo looked at her, incredulous. “Miss Rey, I assure you I tried everything within my power…” But her voice trailed, and Rey was already walking toward the door, lifting her wand in the process. Ben was long gone by now. 

She whispered, “Alohomora,” and the door obediently clicked. Rey opened the door without resistance. She didn’t dare look up to see the expression of disbelief on Holdo’s face. 

“I don’t understand. I—I must have tried that a hundred times.” Professor Holdo skirted into her office, looking around as if to check that everything was in order. Rey thought she looked embarrassed. 

Rey shrugged, waiting around by the office threshold. “Perhaps it was just a misunderstanding, Professor?”

*

The Quidditch match did not seem to be going any better than it had started. When Rey first caught the quaffle, intent on racing past her opponents, she almost laughed when it slid out of her hands. She had barely touched it before it was dropping to the ground, ready to be scooped up by a passing Slytherin player. Rey could only gape at her hand. She caught Poe’s eye from across the pitch and gave him a kind of shrug. 

But then—it happened again, this time to Zorii Bliss. Rey watched as it happened, the ball grazing against Zorii’s fingers before it was sent falling back down to the pitch. This time, Poe was agitated, shifting on his broomstick and looking grim. But it wasn’t until it happened a third time, to Jannah, that Poe signaled to Professor Holdo that they needed a time out. 

Once back on the ground, Poe looked around at his teammates. From the other side of the pitch, Rey could almost hear the Slytherin team leering. “What’s going on, guys?”

They exchanged confused expressions. “It’s like…” Zorri started, but seemed to think better of it. Her lip curled. 

Rey cut in. “It’s like we can’t even touch the ball.” 

"It's fine for me," Finn rushed in, his gaze locked on Poe. Rey narrowed her eyes. There was definitely something going on there, but she didn't have the time to sort it out now. And that’s when it hit her, the realization that she had seen Ben Solo tampering in Professor Holdo’s office minutes before the game, and that now something was wrong with the quaffle. She closed her eyes, tuning out whatever Poe said next. Had she stood by as Ben rigged the game? Her eyes scanned the bleachers, looking for the familiar curtain of black hair. She spotted him only because of their connection, because at that very moment, he was on the other side of the mental door, pleading with her to let him in. 

She wouldn’t make that mistake again. 

Poe was still speaking, “—tampered with it? Should we go to Professor Holdo?”

Rey was furious. She tried to steady her breath, “They should test the ball for interference.”

Poe was looking between the faces in front of him, still uncertain. “But it’s not affecting all of us. I mean…I was able to score without a hitch.”

It all made sense to Rey. Poe was, of course, a Pureblood. She mentally went around her teammates, noticing that it was only those with muggle blood that were unable to touch the ball. 

The game was called off, Professor Holdo casting a quick charm to determine that some spell had been cast on the quaffle, though she didn’t know who had done it. She promised that they would launch a full inquiry, and that the person responsible would face severe consequences. But Rey knew that without any leads, the game would just be wiped from the tournament boards, and the person at fault wouldn’t face a single minute in detention. 

She went directly to her dorm room after changing out of her Quidditch room. She noticed only when she was confronted with the mirror in her room that somewhere during it all, she must have bit her lip until it bled. She decided that after dinner, she would go to Holdo and tell her that she had seen Ben coming out of her office but hadn’t said anything. She would face whatever consequences came with it, if only to see Ben pay for what he had done. She turned away from the mirror, shutting her eyes. 

When she opened them, Ben was in front of her. The force had connected them again and would keep connecting them—she realized—regardless of how desperately she tried to avoid it. 

“SNAKE!” She yelled at him, barely able to contain her anger. She was pacing her dorm room now, looking everywhere but his eyes. “I was right there. I let you tamper with the quaffle! I let you!” She wasn’t sure if she was reprimanding herself or him. 

A moment passed, during which Ben comically opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to speak. Finally, he stepped forward. “I didn’t tamper with the quaffle, Rey, I promise you I didn’t.”

She looked at him, almost in shock at his arrogance. “I saw you. You know I saw you.”

“You have that look in your eyes…” He started. “from the Forest, when I—”

Rey snapped at him, unable to control her rising anger. “When you broke the little trust I had in you?”

He was visibly agitated now. Rey could see him shifting on his feet, his hands wrapping around each other. It was all so unlike the overly-confident Ben that she knew. “I was trying to reverse it.” The words rushed out of him. He was glancing back and forth nervously, as if looking around for anyone listening in. Distantly, Rey heard sounds of a party happening on his side in the Slytherin common room. But to Rey, of course, it was just the two of them in her dorm, everyone having gone to dinner already. 

Rey stared at him, trying to gauge just from his eyes whether he was telling the truth. “So someone did tamper with it? And you knew?” She didn’t give him time to respond, “Who?” she breathed, “Who did it?”

“I imagine it was Snoke. At first I thought he was joking---”

“—weird idea of a joke.” She cut in. She couldn’t stop herself. Her pulse was racing.

He almost smiled. “I agree. Well, I tried to dissuade him. He must have noted my disapproval and kept me out of the plan.”

Rey wanted to believe him. She challenged him further, “But if you knew what he was going to do, why not go to a Professor? The Headmaster?”

Ben ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know, exactly. At lunch he said that Muggleborns are especially fascinated by the sport, and that he would get a laugh if it turned against them.”

Rey responded quietly, “He didn’t say ‘Muggleborns.’”

A pause—then, grimly, “He didn’t.”

“How did you get into Professor Holdo’s office, then? She couldn’t unlock the door.”

His eyes weren’t meeting hers. She guessed he wasn’t particularly proud of the next bit. “I used a dark lock spell, one I knew she wouldn’t be able to unlock without also using dark magic. It was the only thing I could think of.” 

It didn’t surprise Rey that Ben knew some dark magic. Still, Ben must have sensed her hesitation to believe him. He let the silence stretch, before finally conceding. “See for yourself,” he said, and then, for the first time in weeks, Rey felt the door swing open. She knew she was in his mind almost instantly. It felt like coming out of the water for a fresh breath of air. A moment later, she realized with certainty that he was telling the truth. “I’ve never lied to you,” he said, almost as an afterthought. His voice was low, and he seemed to be under some strain as his eyes met hers. 

Through his gaze, Rey saw something more. He seemed to be transmitting images to her, brief, but vivid. She saw him open the Quidditch case, muttering spells haphazardly at the balls inside. Since nothing was working, he figured that Snoke had really just been joking, that nothing was wrong with the quaffle. She saw his panic upon hearing Professor Holdo’s grunts of frustration from the other side of the door, and then…and then the cool dose of calm that came when he sensed her presence. Why was he showing her this?

He took another step closer. “Rey, I never wanted to hurt you. That night—”

A knock at the door interrupted them. It was coming from Rey’s end. Rose’s voice called through the door: “Rey! Are you coming to dinner?”

“Just a second!” She called back, but when she turned her head back to Ben, he was gone.


End file.
